Presser foot and multiple gauge for sewing machines



May 13, 1941. N. GIANCOLA PRESSER FOOT AND MULTIPLE GAUGE FOR SEWING MACHINES 'F'iled June 2, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BY I I, 3 v

ATTORNEYS? y13,1941. N.IANCOLA 7 2,241,778

PRESSER FOOT AND MULTIPLE GAUGE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed June 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Mm wa ATTORNEYS. p

Patented May 13, 1941 T OFFICE;

PRESSER FOOT'AND MULTIPLE GAUGE FOR SEWING MACHINES Nicholas Giancola, Guttenberg, N. J. Application June 2, 1939, Serial No. 276,992

(cum-235) 6 Claims.

The object of theinvention, in general, is to provide a combined presser foot and multiple gauge for sewing machines which may be quickly and easily adjusted for guiding stitches at various distances from the edge of the work or for piping or like stitching of various thicknesses.

Further objects are to provide for operation of the foot without gauges when desired, to accommodate the gauging adjustments to goods of difierent thicknesses, and to maintain double-foot operation with all adjustments.

Another object is to provide a presser foot in which all of the adjustable elements are self! contained and may be brought into play or rendered inoperative as desired by simple manual manipulation, without addition or removal of any attachments.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same.

Fig. 2a is a fragmentary front. elevation on a larger scale, showing an adjustment for guiding a piping stitch.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a vertical section on on the same scale as Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a vertical section corresponding to Fig. 6 with certain parts shown in different relations.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section, partly broken away, on line 8-8 of Fig. 7. v

Fig. 9 is a detail in side elevation of the right foot member shown in Fig. 2, with associated parts.

Fig. 10 is a perspective detail of a gauge bar.

The presser foot shown is a split double foot composed of members l0 and I2, hereinafter sometimes called left foot and right foot,'respectively. The left foot I0 has a slot II by means of which the foot may be attached in conventional manner to the presser rod (not shown) of a sewing machine. This foot also has a toe or sole Illa which is cut away on its inner side to form part of needle slot lllb. All other parts of the device are carried by foot I0.

presser foot line 66 of Fig. 2,

Right foot I2 is of forked or slotted construction in its lower portion to form narrow spaced toes I2a with slots l3 between them in which are seated fiat gauge bars H. The innermost toe is cut off adjacent the needle opening in order to complete the needle slot and render the stitch more visible. An integral bridge I 2b extends across the extremities of the toes, serving to increase the rigidity of the'structure and to limit the upward movement of the gauge bars.

The gauge bars may be of any desired number and disposed at any desired intervals. Three are shown in the drawings and they may be assumed as being spaced to provide for stitching at the conventional 1 4;", or 1 distances from the edge of the material. By means to be described later any one oi the three gauge bars may be advanced out of its slot downwardly and forwardly until'it bears against the work 7 edge of the material. In Figs. 1 and 2 the middle or /8" gauge is shown in work guiding position. Further description of the various adjustments and operations will follow.

The gauge bars (Fig. 10) are of stepped form having soles l5 and alternating vertical and horizontal elements l6, l1, I8, 20, 2|. A rack is formed on the parts 20 and 2| comprising a. horizontal portion 20a and a sub-vertical portion 2la. A rotatable bar 26 (Figs. 5-8), slidably journaled in the feet l0 and I2, carries a pinion which rack 20a.

' shifted inor out.

maybe selectively meshed with the rack of any one of the gauge bars. This is effected by pulling or pushing bar 26 inwardly or outwardly by means of knurled head 21 until pinion 25 is in mesh with the gau e bar which it is desired to put in gauging position. The three possible operative positions are releasably fixed by a, spring 29 (Figs. 8 and 9) which snaps into one or another of the annular grooves 28 as bar 26 is Thus the 1 3'" gauge will be engaged by pushing bar 26 to its innermost position, the 1%" gauge by pulling the bar out all of the way, and the middle position, corresponding to the 4;" gauge, will be found by shifting the bar in or out until the snapping into place of spring 29 is felt or heard.

Having'selected the gauge desired in the manner described above, it may now be advanced into operative position by turning head 21 clockwise, the initial relation of the parts being that shown in Fig. 7, with pinion 25 in mesh with horizontal The first part of the movement of the gauge bar is thereforein the forward direction. This is an important feature since it brings the gauge out from under the right foot as a whole and enables the operator to see the gauge better. When the pinion reachesthe inner end of rack 20a the forward movement stops and the pinion thereafter operates upon the sub-vertical rack 2la, depressing the gauge until it bears against the work table (Fig. 6). The depth to which the table alongside the gauge is lowered should be determined by the thickness of the material to be sewed so that the gauge will contact the work table but will not lift the presser foot off the material. During the forward and downward movement, the gauge is guided by pins 22 and the downward motion is limited by hook IS on the gauge bar coming into engagement with one of these pins.

Upon turning head 21 anticlockwise, the gauge will be returned to neutral position and in this condition the foot may be used for flat or plain sewing. It will be observed that whether a gauge ,is being used or not the foot acts as a double foot pressing upon the material on both sides of the needle. use, the short innermost toe Ila bears upon the material. This is a marked improvement over gauges now in use, which not only require the removal of one gauge and attachment of another when the stitching interval is changed, but the foot must be a single foot when the width of hem is narrow, say 1%".

In order to prevent a gauge from being forced upwardly while in use, I provide a one-way looking device to hold the gauge at any desired level within the limits of its movement. A pawl 35 pivoted on pin 35a. is pressed against pinion 25 by spring 38, the pawl being wide enough to contact the pinion in all of its axial positions. A rocker-bar 36, having a cam surface 31 bears against pawl 35 on the side opposite spring 36 Even when the gauge is in moderate tightness but freely enough to permi easy manipulation of the thumb screw. Doublefoot pressure is maintained when pipingis be a crooked bar 56, 61, 58, whose long horizontal section 56 is slidably and rotatably Journaled in a sleeve 52 which in turn is journale'd in upper extension 55 of foot I2 (Figs. 7 and 8). On its inner end sleeve 52 has a boss 55 and on the other side of extension 55 a cam collar 64 is atflxed to the sleeve by a set screw. Boss 53 and collar 64 prevent axial movement of sleeve 52 but permit it to rotate. Collar 64 has two flats 65 and 65a against one or the other of which bears a spring 66 (Figs. 1 and 9). When gauge 59 is in its upper or neutral position, as in Fig. 1, spring 66 presses against flat 65a; when in the lower or operative position (dotted lines Fig. 2) it presses against fiat 65. A locking pin 63 is seated in a bore'extending into boss 53 alongside of bar 56. In the plane of bar 56 lock pin 63 is cut back at one point on its periphery to reduce the diameter of the pin through that part. When the pin isturned into a position which brings the cut-back portion alongside of and bar 36 carries an arm 39 by means of which the bar may be rocked. When arm 39 is in the upper position shown in Fig. 3, cam surface 3? will be in the position shown in Fig. 7 and the pawl will be out of engagement with the pinion.

When arm 39 is thrown into its lower position the cam surface will be in contact with the pawi as in Fig. 6, permitting spring 38 to force the pawl into locking engagement with the pinion.

The adjustment for piping is illustrated in Fig. 2a. In this example the 1%" gauge is in operative position but obviously one of the other gauges may be loweredif it is desired to do or piping. It will be observed that the right foot is elevated above the left in order to compensate for the thickness of the cord. This is an important feature of the invention and I have provided special means for quickly and easily raising the right foot when it is desired to make a piping stitch.

The raising of the right foot for piping is ef- J tion. The thumb screw is aifixed to a stub shaft 46 (Fig. 5) which is journaled in the left foot and carries an eccentric pin 41 on its inner end. The eccentric pin projects into a slot in an undercut rib 48 formed onthe right foot, which rib is slidably dovetailed in channel 49 of the left foot. To facilitate assembly an annular groove 5| is formed on shaft 46 and a pin 56 is driven into a bore in foot ID, the bore being so located that an intermediate part of pin 56 lies in groove 5| and prevents shaft 46 and thumb screw 45 from accidentally separating from the foot.

Thumb screw 45 may be turned in either direction until the right foot has risen a distance corresponding to the thickness of the pipingcord but, ordinarily, the right foot will be raised as far as it will gov In this position eccentric pin 41 will have reached the upper limit of its travel and will be on dead centre with respect to afoot; shaft 46 may be fitted in the left foot with bar 56, the bar can be freely shifted in sleeve 52.to the right or left and can also be rotated in the sleeve. When pin 63 is turned into another position it tightly wedges against the bar and locks it against movement relatively to sleeve A roller 66 is pivotally secured to an arm 65 which is pivotally .attached .to'gauge shoe 59. Spring 62 is attached to part 58 of the gauge bar and bears against a nut 61 on the end of arm 6|, pressing arm 6| and roller 66 toward the gauge shoe 59 (Fig. 2). v

To set the extension gauge for use (assuming it to be in the upper or neutral position, with pin 63 in looking position and spring 66 bearing against fiat 65a), the gaugeis first swung downwardly into approximate work-guiding position. This movement rotates cam collar 64 and transfers spring 66 from flat 65a to flat 65. Lock pin 63 is then turned to the release position, permitting the gauge to be shifted to the right or left to establish the desired sewing margin. While the lock is released the elevation of the gauge is accurately adjusted and this should be done after the material to be sewed is in place, so that the thickness of the material maybe taken into account. Lock pin 63 is then turned'to the looking position and. the device is ready to operate. If the gauge is resting upon the material to be sewed, as is the case insome sewing operations, any unevennesses of the material which raise the gauge will rotate collar 64 causing flat 65 to rock on spring 66 and produce a tension which tends to .return' the gauge to normal position. Roller 66 will press the. material adjacent to the shoe and prevent the formation of wrinkles which might impair the uniformity of the stitch. If desired, however, as when the gauge is set close to the foot, roller 60 can ,be thrown up out 'of operative position, in which case spring 6! will possibility of interference. When the extension gauge is not in use it may be thrown up into neutral position, where it will be held by spring 66 bearing on flat 65a.

It should be understood that the expression downwardly and forwardly, which appears in the specification and claims in reference. to the movement of gauges I4, is not intended to imply that the sequence of the downward and forward movements is significant. Indeed, in the embodiment illustrated the forward movement takes place first but the order could be reversed without departing from the invention or the two movements could occur concurrently.

I claim:

1. In combination, a presser foot having a plurality of downwardly open slots, a plurality of gauges housed respectively in said slots, and means for selectively advancing any one of said gauges into gauging position and retracting the same.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which, when the gauges are in neutral position,

the presser faces of the gauges and foot lie in a common unbroken surface.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 which comprises means for selectively advancing the gauges downwardly and forwardly and retracting same.

4. In combination, a presser foot having a plurality of downwardly open parallel slots, a plurality of gauges housed in said slots, each gauge having a rack on a longitudinal edge thereof, a transverse shaft, and a pinion on said shaft, said shaft being shiftable to engage said pinion with either of said racks and rotatable to cause the selected gauge to advance and retract.

5. The combination set forth in claim 4 in which said racks have a substantially horizontal component and a substantially vertical component.

6. The combination set forth in claim 1 and comprising means for locking the selected gauge in any advanced position.

NICHOLAS GIANCOLA. 

